Martin Glenn, the Chief Executive Officer of the Football Association, has issued an apology “for any offence caused” after he equated the Star of David with the Nazi swastika and images of the brutal former Zimbabwean dictator, Robert Mugabe. The Star of David is a symbol of Jewish pride and Judaism.

Speaking about rules that prohibit the wearing of political symbols at football matches, Mr Glenn cited a number of “highly divisive” symbols, saying: “it could be the Star of David, it could the hammer and sickle, it could be a swastika, anything like Robert Mugabe on your shirt – these are the things we don’t want.” Mr Glenn was responding to the wearing of a yellow ribbon in support of Catalan independence by the manager of Manchester City Football Club.

We find Mr Glenn’s weak apology “for any offence caused” to be unacceptable. However, even a mealy mouthed apology is a start and an acknowledgement. He must now commit to undertaking education and training on antisemitism. Unless he does so we consider this incident to remain unresolved.

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Campaign Against Antisemitism is a volunteer-led charity dedicated to exposing and countering antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law. Everything that we do is done by people who volunteer their time, using donations contributed by members of the public. Join the fight against antisemitism by subscribing to our updates, volunteering, or donating.